Prosecutors revealed new information about last weekend’s mass shooting in Wicker Park during a bond court hearing Wednesday for a man who’s accused of firing some of the shots.
Four different gunmen were involved in the shootout, and one of them was killed, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said while laying out allegations against 35-year-old Teanius Sykes.
“It just shocks the conscience that any dispute now, it appears, is handled with bullets,” Judge John Lyke said after hearing Murphy’s presentation.
Sykes is charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, reckless discharge of a firearm endangering others, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and a misdemeanor gun violation.
Sykes, his girlfriend, and the gunman who was killed, identified on social media as 32-year-old Raymond Jones, were all leaving a nightclub on the 1500 block of North Milwaukee when Jones began firing toward a crowd of people who were standing outside the bar around 3:42 a.m. Sunday, Murphy said.
Someone fired back at Jones, and he was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Murphy.
After the initial burst of gunfire ended, people began to stand up and walk around, Murphy said. That’s when Sykes allegedly grabbed a gun from his girlfriend’s glovebox and fired into the crowd. The girlfriend works as a security guard and is licensed to own a firearm, according to Murphy. Surveillance cameras allegedly captured images of Sykes firing into the crowd.
“He was not acting in any sort of self-defense at that point,” said Murphy, who reiterated that no shots had been fired for about 20 seconds before Sykes started shooting.
In addition to Jones, four people suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds.
Sykes’ girlfriend took her gun away, and the couple fled to her home, according to Murphy. Police arrived a short time later to tow her car after investigators linked it to the shooting by its license plate number.
Murphy said that the girlfriend told officers who were towing her car that the gun was inside her house and that Sykes was also there. Police secured a search warrant for the home, recovered the gun, and arrested Sykes.
Investigators have not identified the other two gunmen who were involved in the shooting, Murphy said, but cops found shell casings from four different weapons at the scene. A total of 30 casings were found, including 13 that police believe were expended by the gun Sykes fired.
Sykes was convicted of felony manufacture-delivery in 2013 and received a probation sentence, Murphy said, but he has no violent crime convictions.
“Irrespective of what happened in that club or around that club, [it is] settled with shots going in both directions,” Judge Lyke said. “Innocent people just going about their daily lives, subjected to dodging bullets and praying that they don’t get hit.”
The judge ordered Sykes held without bail.
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